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Rice and beans
Cilantro-lime white rice, or brown. Black beans or pinto. This is the base. Everything else sits on top of it, so the rice has to taste like something before the salsa arrives.
Leave your usual
Leave your usual
Denver · since 1993
Chipotle is a line, not a steam table. Rice, beans, a protein off the grill, salsa, and something to finish. The bowl in front of you is the whole idea.
The chicken bowl
White rice, black beans, grilled chicken, salsa, guacamole.
You do not order from a picture of a finished plate. You walk four stops and the meal is assembled in front of you. That is the Chipotle habit.
Cilantro-lime white rice, or brown. Black beans or pinto. This is the base. Everything else sits on top of it, so the rice has to taste like something before the salsa arrives.
Chicken, steak, barbacoa, carnitas, or sofritas. Cut to order, not held in a pan of sauce. The char on the chicken is the point.
Tomato, tomatillo, or corn. Then cheese, sour cream, lettuce, or guacamole. Guacamole is the one people come back for. It is mashed, not a tub of green.
Same ingredients, three shapes. A bowl if you want to see it. A burrito if you want it wrapped. Three tacos if you want to share the table.
The usuals. Prices are the US counter, before a drink.
White rice, black beans, grilled chicken, corn, tomato, guacamole. Built in sections, not mixed into a sauce.
Same bowl, still hot. Rice, beans, chicken, salsa, guacamole.
The same build, folded. Ask for it lightly wrapped if you want the fillings to show.
Soft flour tortillas, meat, onion, cilantro. The simplest thing on the line.
Cheese melted into the tortilla, protein inside, salsa and guacamole on the side.
Heat is the only real choice after the protein. Start milder than you think. The red one is the last stop, not the first.
Mild. Chopped tomato, onion, cilantro, lime. This is the everyday salsa. It brightens chicken and does not cover it.
Medium. Sweet corn, chili, a charred edge. It belongs on carnitas. Skip it if you wanted the bowl quiet.
Medium. Roasted tomatillo, herb, a little heat. The one people put on steak and then order again.
Hot. The red chili salsa. A spoon, not a ladle. It should sting, then get out of the way of the meat.
“Chicken, white rice, black beans, tomato salsa, guacamole. I have ordered that bowl in three cities and it tastes like the same line.”
Maya L. · Austin“Barbacoa burrito, no rice, extra tomatillo. Heavy, and it still holds together. The green salsa is the whole reason.”
Andre P. · Denver“Three carnitas tacos, onion and cilantro only. No cheese. It tastes like the meat, which is the test.”
Elena V. · ChicagoA note for the line
Bowl or burrito, the protein, the salsa. The note stays on this page. Nothing is ordered.